Offline
by airbolt
Summary: A look at the Tracy family off duty.
1. Scott

**Flying Machines**

The Birds were all different .

"Two" handled like a pig and Virgil wouldn't have it any other way. Brains had tried to fit artificial intelligence( A.I ) but Virgil quietly nixed it.

"Three" was a dream and Alan flew it in the same way he approached all vehicles – fast, hard and much too close to the edge of the envelope.

"Four" was a much better craft with the impeller adjusted – Gordon admitted as such. She was able to turn faster . Gordon wasn't a fan of arnaments but the pulsed beam cannon had gotten him out of a scrape with a rogue W.A.S.P tactical sub.

"Five" was getting old . John knew every leak , every groan , every howl. He felt more at home than on the Island . His six monthly trips " downside " were a medical necessity – artificial gravity was still a toll on the body. Even so he couldn't wait to get back "upside"

Then there was "One". His own ship, even now in the maintence bay undergoing a thorough upgrade. Scott hated to see his ship so...vulnerable and offline in case of an energency. The servo-bots with their limited articial intelligence scurried across the partially exposed frame of the atmospheric rocketplane. Scott thought that they looked like metal spiders.

He hadn't been keen on having his ship offline. Brains had laid out the advantages two weeks earlier in his own inimitable manner. The presentation was held in the conference room with John on vidlink.

" The p-problems that Scott has reported on some missions will only get worse as the ships systems age. It's been over four years since the last major overhaul and we all know what strains TB1 has undergone. I p-propose to reinforce the airframe with bonded nano-carbon , which may slightly alter the flight characteristics." Brains stutter was almost absent these days especially when he was in his element." To compensate for this i propose articial intellgence assistance for some control services. Of course , Scott , you will have to get used to a slightly different "feel" to the ship but i think it is absolutely necessary. The only real alternative is ,well, a new Thunderbird 1 from scratch! "

Scott looked tense " There's years in that ship. I may have had a problem over New Mexico but that was probably me-not the ship! "

Jeff looked concerned. Scott was known for his calm but TB1 was more than just a ship to him. He was able to fly her into places that no one else could . There was an almost symbiotic bond between man and machine.Brains might have well have proposed cutting off Scott's right arm.

Jeff ventured " What about the atomic tank range rescue? I studied the datastream , it was a pretty close thing , son! The jury is still out on Thunderflash but you must know things weren't right with the ship? "

Scott didn't want to give up without a fight though . " Then you think the ship should be modified, Father? " His gaze was straight. The atmosphere in the room was electric. Virgil, Gordon, Alan and John knew better than to utter a word.

" I do , Scott. Based on the technical evidence presented by Brains , i think the modifications will increase the life of the airframe for several years beyond current projections. I know it's not a change you feel comfortable with, son. A ship gets to fit a pilot like a glove. Pilots hate change. You're a pilot , Scott . An outstanding pilot. You have to know that it's the right decision" Jeff said and looked directly at Scott.

" Even if thats true , father " Scott wasn't about to cave in straight away " What if we get a call needing TB1 and she's in bits in the hanger?"

" Thats a problem we've always faced, at least potentially. There's never a right time to take a ship offline. We haven't got a way of telling when the next emergency will come. It's a risk but at least Brains has got the upgrade time down to 96 hours by using servo-bots." Jeff finished.

Scott wasn't too proud to admit that his father was right. He had let his judgement waver because of his strong attachement to his ship.

" When's it happening then , Brains?" said Scott with a shrug.

" T-Two W-weeks , Scott ".The tension had brought Brains' stammer back. " The artificial intelligence is online in my lab but th-the nano-carbon needs sourcing through the f-front companies "

Brains was referring to the front organisations set up prior to the formation of International Rescue. Shell corporations in the Antilles which financed several manufacturing and technical companies. These companies filed tax returns and made modest profits. Their main raison d'etre was to receive source materials and parts for the machines of International Rescue.

" When the time comes , Scott , you will act as cover on TB2 primarily but obviously we hope that wont be necessary" said Jeff. " I think that's the meeting finished, everyone"

The meeting broke up. The air was still heavy . Alan and Gordon headed for the pool while Virgil loped off to tinker with TB2. He needed to be doing something involving machines. Scott went to the Gym.

" Scott will come round" said Jeff to the sunset.


	2. Virgil

Virgil took a long look at his monitor. A slight headache was starting to form as he looked at the readout.

" Let me guess" said Scott " Number seven auxiliary pump?."

" Hi Scott . I didn't hear you come in " said Virgil. " Mind you , I think the marching band of the London Royals could have been on the flight deck and I wouldn't have noticed! I can't figure why the flow isn't constant . Brains replaced the main pump and checked the software"

" Yeah well , if it's beyond you then I'm not sure I'm going to be a lot of help except moral support. I think you need a break. I brought some cold bottles" said Scott.

" I could use some water right now" replied Virgil, pushing the bulky seat back on it's runners. Scott sat in the co-pilot seat and took a sip from his water.

" So , I don't have to salute you while pop is away do I?" laughed Virgil

"What if I say yes, would you do it?" laughed Scott

" What do you think?" said Virgil. They both laughed. Jeff Tracy was attending a reunion of astronauts at Glenn Field.

" I haven't known it this quiet for a long while" said Scott " Sort of reminds me of that summer before I went to astronaut training. Long days playing football, looking over the cornfields , shooting hoops and chatting to the girls "

" There were one or two of those " said Virgil with a wry look " Not that I was jealous. Much"

" I wonder what they're doing now " For a second Scott was far away " Seemed like a different world then. I remember that time when I was talking to Sue-Elise , trying to get her to notice my astronaut wings…"

" Ha, then I come rushing in chasing Alan and ruin the moment" said Virgil " I'm not sure if you ever forgave me for that"

" Yeah , Sue-Elise took one look at you and Alan covered in dust and cuts and decided that the Tracy family was a lot of trouble" Scott was smiling but his eyes weren't. " Of course , after that there wasn't a lot of time for that sort of thing. "

" I hear that!" said Virgil

" Hang on , you've got a reading on number seven . It's peaking over again…I'll see if Brains is back from lunch " said Scott leaving the flight deck

" Tell him to bring his biggest hammer!" said Virgil , only half joking.


	3. Alan

"Three of a kind " said John 

" Two fours " said Alan

" Never bluff a bluffer, Al! " laughed John , in a gentle way.

"I know , play the opponent , not the cards " sighed Alan " What was the pot?"

" Oh , You win an external trip to adjust the Thrusters . Number 14 is running a little over, probably parts of the _June Wind_ "

" Not again , are we ever gonna find all of it?" moaned Alan. The primary stages of the " _June Wind_ " were all robotic and no personnel were on board when it had exploded in low orbit. No one in the Tracy family made light of disasters where human lives were lost.

"E.V.A at 14:00 Al" said John . He could play cards and yet be attuned to the myriad monitors and audio alarms in the monitoring ring of Thunderbird 5. " Woah , Sounds like some action at the San Bernadino 500 . Just minor , local rescue only. I hear they haven't broken your lap record yet "

" Uh . Yeah. I was just lucky " said Alan , while thinking that he had heard nothing above the competing audio streams.

" I 've got to calibrate the Asian network array , so I guess I'll take a rain-check on the next hand" said John and moved towards the console.

Alan moved off to the racks for a few zees before his E.V.A. He passed the observation port and saw the empty docking ring where "his" Bird would arrive at in three days. He was surprised at how quickly his rotation on 5 had gone. Scott was covering on 3 – Alan felt a little twinge of jealousy at first then realised that Scott was an excellent pilot. Almost as good as him.

As Alan set the alarm he pondered a little on why his time on 5 passed so quickly . He put it down to John. While not overt about it , John made him feel a lot older and more responsible than the others . Virge was always riding him about something or other. Scott always seemed to faintly disapprove of his "showboat" flying technique. Gordon always seemed to drag him into acting younger than he was. John just treated him like …an adult. As a result Alan acted like more like an adult on 5 than at any other time.

Ten minutes later John checked on his brother , now snoring.

" No wonder they gave you a single room at College! " he laughed.

As he made his way back to the Monitoring Array , John thought that he would miss Al. Not that he didn't get on with the others – it was just that Al seemed to get more out of his visits. As for….his thought processes were interrupted by a priority alpha.

" Major fire at the Tempoco Oil Terminal . Calling International Rescue…"


	4. Gordon

_**As long as he could remember he had loved the sea…**_

" Hey , Gordo, Nice Job " beamed Virgil as he loped down the corridor to the showers " Heard it was dicey. I'll catch you after I've washed this sand off me "

" It was nothing " said Gordon , to a disappearing Virgil.

He couldn't remember a time when he hadn't swum. He had no fear of the water and used to give Jeff gray hairs

" Not what I heard , kid " said Scott , also begrimed with sand " Are you going to get head-hunted by W.A.S.P? "Once as a teenager he had a furious argument with his father. He had gotten as far as filling in the application for W.A.S.P before realising it would compromise the "family busines"

" A Terrorfish?" Alan's face was a picture " You took on a Terrorfish? Oh man , you gotta tell me all about it! "

" It was nothing " said Gordon.

********* Eyes Only – Commander Shore ***************************

**Tactical Report – ADAER 742 – W.A.S.P Tactical Assessment**

**Incident ADAER 742 – Combined sensors indicate that**

**Stingray under Commander Tempest was diverted to the Aleutians by fake Terrorist incident. W.A.S.P support vessels ( 7 ) also diverted – see notes for vessel index numbers**

_Phones had never heard Troy swear before. Tempest flung his W.A.S.P Tac Helmet across the room, narrowly missing the forensic tech. Instantly he regained control and apologised to the Tech before taking Phones to one side._

" _Fooled like a rook. Unbelievable" he growled_

" _Tah be fair it looked like a real hostage situation, Troy" said Phones quietly. " Wait ….I'm getting Marineville on the tac channel…"_

**Main force of rogue Terrorfish (TF )attack MV Australis – a passenger liner carrying 250 civilians and crew – in search of Helium 3 , rumored to be secretly on board.**

_The MV Australis shuddered as the ceramic turbines were put into reverse. There were torp trails ahead and astern. The East-Tech jamming array was confusing the torpedos gudance. It could only cope with two attack vectors. A third tango appeared on the panel and launched._

"_How far is the heavy artillery?" said the captain, with a fixed ezxpression._

"_W.A.S.P are four minutes out, Sir" replied the Ship's security tech. _

**W.A.S.P Southern command had elements in range – ( see notes ) which engaged . 2 TF neutralised . All W.A.S.P elements disabled. One TF remained active and torpedoed the MV Australis which quickly settled.**

_Commander Tennyson could just catch his breath. Ribs gone probably. He looked at the X.O and growled "SitRep, Mister Paphides"._

"_Nothing more we can do here, Sir" the X.O shouted as he struggled to maintain his footing. Alarms were going off and visibilty was nearly zero. The Terrorfish attack had finished the ship and it was now listing heavily._

" _Abandon Ship. Give the Order." Tennyson croaked, wishing there was some ordnance left to take the tangos with them. _

**Rescue vessel Thunderbird 4 ( T4) arrives escorting the civilian cargo vessel CP Silver Rain. (SR )**

"_Rescue Alpha , repeat Rescue Alpha to W.A.S.P Command. Civilian Vessel waiting to take on survivors. Advise me on hostiles." said Gordon._

"W104 to Rescue Alpha. Advise two tangos splash. One tango on your vector. No, repeat, no W.A.S.P asset available for support" came the crackling reply.

"_Roger that. I have the tango. Let's see if I can pull him away from the civilian vessel". This was going to be interesting._

**T4 engages TF allowing SR to take on passengers.**

**Telemetry from W.A.S.P vessels tracks T4. TF uses all arnament but fails to get a single hit on T4 . Captain Svenson of W104 remarks on clear " I haven't seen anything like that since Tempest was a rook!** "

_Use the thermals. The thermals are your friend. Gordon was concentrating fiercely on the glowing point on the tac screen. Too close and getting closer. There was a rocky outcrop ahead . Gordon put the port impeller on full ahead and the starboard on reverse. He span to face the Terrorfish and pumped the firing toggle of the pulse cannon. He could almost see the expression on the tangos faces as rock from the explosion crashed onto them. They made the only move left and limped away._

Commander Shore put the report down and looked out of the window. He could see the repair crews working hard at bringing the damaged vessels back to strength. Stingray was about six hours out and he could imagine Troy's anger at being sidelined in such a major incident. Probably best not to show him Captain Svenson's remark.

" W.A.S.P could certainly use another Troy Tempest. I'm not sure that International Rescue would agree to letting the T4 pilot transfer though! " Commander Shore mused. The moon was setting over the horizon leaving silvery reflections dancing over the calm ocean.

As long as he could remember he had loved the sea.


	5. John

The audio streams were competing for attention . John tuned through them and picked up the intense ones. Not that the AI software that Brains had developed couldn't cope with priorities – it was way beyond even Cal-Tech , Grumman and even the mighty Hitachi Heavy Industries NanoCrypt. It was just that John could use it with finesse.

The point was that Thunderbirds could not be everywhere at once. As Jeff had said

" You can't save everyone"

Local rescue services might think they needed IR but in 95 of cases they were wrong. Looking at the array John saw

Forest fire in the Amazon – Priority 32- Local Rescue attending (LRA)

Mine collapse in the Czech Republic – Priority 54 and rising (LRA)

Oil Terminal in Herzana – Priority 19 -LRA

John looked at the Czech situation and had a gut feeling. They were good people out there – John had met the local firefighters while doing his pre-IR orientation. His memories were good ones if a bit blurry – they worked hard and played harder. The Cesky Krumlov Mine had collapsed trapping 23 Graphite miners. The rescue was going slowly due to adverse weather. ONN was running a stream and the rescue workers emerging had the body language that so often meant " We tried A , We tried B …nothing works!"

Preflighting Two was up to John . Jeff had given him that decision after consulting with Virgil. As Virgil had said at the time " I'd take John's gut feeling over any computer " The Preflight warmup ensured that Two was trimmed exactly for the mission and saved vital minutes in arrival time. In the early days Two went out "cold" – the job still got done but IR always looked at ways of shaving time and improving efficiency.

John ran the file on Cesky Krumlov . The geology schematics came up – no wonder the rescuers were in trouble . Underground water was the key – it must have found a way into the lower chambers. Why was there no call – John slammed his fist on the panel – Poiliticians!!!! Sometimes they were just too proud to call in IR, Foolish beyond all measure!

John immediately ran the preflight on Two remotely and alerted the Island. Within five minutes Virgil was guiding the leviathan towards Europe . The miners trapped in Cesky Krumlov may not have been aware of it but they were going to live , mainly thanks to a well judged intervention by an unknown man on a satellite.


	6. Jeff

The Connecticut rain slashed the man but he didn't seem to notice. Deep within his own thoughts he proceeded briskly and purposefully. There was no one else in the vicinity but he was carrying counter-measures – a Northdyne ECM to counter any tracking devices. In addition , something more old fashioned – a MAC25 caseless 9mm auto-pistol. He had enemies.

Someone might have recognised his face – a member of the public who had a memory for the NASA programme. They were few and far between – NASA was having a fallow period and the Chinese Space Agency were the biggest dogs at the track. However , every now and then someone came up to him and said " Weren't you …on Project Artemis? I'm so sorry about Commander Campbell". Luckily most of the public were more interested in the latest soap streams.

He paused by an oak tree . Not through tiredness – he kept up a reduced version of the astronaut training programme . No , it was a moment of pause – he always needed to collect his thoughts before these meetings. What was important was the family and not the family business – make sure you get that right. She would like to hear about the family.

The moment passed and he continued. She was there as always . He began

" Hello , It's Jeff . All the boys are doing just great , you taught them well. Scott has really become the man you said he would……."

After an hour , Jeff Tracy had finished with the family talk . He looked at the Tombstone of his beloved wife and carefully placed the flowers.

" I love you and I miss you"


	7. Brains

Brains peered at the tangle of optical connectors and sighed . Even running pure titanium OCC connectors the data loss was a fraction over 0.002. Unacceptable. There was no question about the build – working for IR meant that he had the best available. A Grumman synthcore fed the Northdyne A.I with the synthetic feed supplied by Oestwerk. State of the art gear , brought up to more than manufacturer spec by himself..

A stream of the latest Indonesian soap played in the background. He told Jeff that it was white noise and helped him to focus. Secretly , though , he held a bit of a torch for the actress playing the maid.

He paced for a while . It didn't help. So he took himself off to his array . He tapped in to the Oort Observatory and let himself drift off. He imagined himself on board the Japanese-Russian vessel . In reality the remote craft was controlled by a laboratory in Osaka gathering data on the Oort cloud . It was a mass of arrays , sensors, solar collectors and telemetry offsets and was catching very unhealthy ( for a human ) doses of the solar wind.

Virgil had his Mozart. Brains had the stars. He had , of course , been a passenger in Three, sweating at the cavalier flying of Alan. He wanted the impossible – to be…out there…with no metal surrounding him. Just him and the stars. The whole sky rotated slowly. Of course…..

He sat bolt upright. What a melon! He ran back to his lab with the solution in his mind, nearly knocking Virgil over in the process.

" Head in the clouds!" thought Virgil. He was close.


	8. Virgil 2

Virgil rapped his knuckle on the release port and sucked in his breath to stop himself swearing. The allegro from Mozart's Symphony No.10 filling the repair bay quickly eased his mood and he returned to the problem. The workhorse of the Thunderbirds had been flying a mission to the Chinese Antarctic Survey and suffered a failure in the anti-icing system. With a bit of "old-fashioned" flying Virgil had kept Two in the air and completed the mission. However at the subsequent debriefing Virgil made some observations about the bots that handled maintenence, to Brains' acute discomfort. After an inspection the anti-icing problem was traced to a software glitch in a redundant backup system. It had mistakenly fed a false temperature reading to the anti-icing array which lead to a shutdown. Virgil had some observations on that too. He kept his tone polite but Brains felt like he needed some anti-icing of his own.

Two was a handful at the best of times without these glitches. Virgil couldn't help but laugh when he recalled Alan's cross-machine proficiency run. After the Sports-Car sleekness of Three, Two was like an S.U.V hauling a caravan in a blizzard. Alan had looked a few pounds lighter after fighting Two for a couple of hours.

Virgil re-checked the port and ran the pad over it. Symphony No.12 had just started as he moved to the anti-detection array. Virgil was lost in concentration as he checked over the work the bots had performed. Scott had more than once remarked that Virgil never trusted anything that he hadn't put together himself. It was true enough, even if it meant spending a lot more time in the hangers than his brothers. The music continued to fill the cavernous hanger with the court music of a time long ago. Virgil wiped his hands in a rag and reached for a hot coffee. He sat and contemplated for a while as the Presto turned to Allegro. For now, the world was calm and in order.


End file.
